Jessica Simpson Tells Kelly Clarkson Her Therapist Had To Remind Her They Are Not Friends

Jessica Simpson enjoys going to therapy so much that her therapist had to remind her that their relationship was purely professional.

Jessica, 39, appeared on The Kelly Clarkson Show (as seen on YouTube) to promote her new memoir, Open Book, and she spoke about two major topics that the tell-all touches on: her decision to get sober and go to therapy.

Jessica said that it has been extremely rewarding for her to see how fans have reacted to her candid discussions about her experiences. She revealed that some readers have even told her that her book has inspired them to get sober, while others have said that her words have made them feel less afraid to go to therapy. Jessica and Kelly agreed that they find it odd that so many people fear going to therapy.

“Why are people afraid of that?” Kelly said. “I’m in therapy. I love therapy.”

Jessica said that she also loves therapy. In fact, she found it so easy to talk to her therapist that she began to view her paid confidant as a friend.

“At the very beginning, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I feel like we’re best friends,'” Jessica recalled telling her therapist. “And she goes, ‘I want to make it very clear that we’re not friends.'”

Kelly found this revelation so hilarious that it had her out of her seat and doubled over, laughing. Jessica then shared her incredulous reaction to her therapist’s blunt remark.

“And I was like, ‘I don’t know if anybody has ever said that to me,'” she continued.

While Jessica’s therapist clearly did not become her new BFF, the successful singer and businesswoman still gave her experience with therapy a glowing review. Jessica explained that she’s such a big fan of therapy because there’s “no judgment.” Kelly shared one of her own reasons for why she enjoys it, and she inadvertently made the case for why it’s a good thing that relationships with therapists are solely professional.

“Yeah, you can say whatever you want,” Kelly said. “And they’re not in your circle. You will not be judged. And even if you are, you don’t know them. You’re paying them.”

Kelly commended Jessica for the bravery she displayed by opening up about “some pretty personal stuff” in her memoir, and Jessica revealed that the experience of writing her book and talking about it has also been rather therapeutic.

“My openness holds me accountable,” Jessica said.

The singer also spoke about how she found “clarity” after she became sober, saying that it wasn’t until then that she really understood why she was drinking so much. For one thing, she was trying to self-medicate with alcohol.

“I thought it was helping with my anxiety, and it was actually making it worse,” she said.

In Open Book, Jessica recalls the moment she realized that she had hit “rock bottom” in 2017. She wrote about how she was so drunk on Halloween that she couldn’t help two of her children, daughter Maxwell and son Ace, put their costumes on. This was the catalyst for her decision to get help.